Carry On, Mr. Bowditch

When they finally come out the other side of Sunda Strait, Captain Prince asks Nat what he thinks of the East Indies. Nat is astounded by the immensity of the islands. There are over 3,000 islands in the archipelago. The total land mass is more than 700,000 square miles. Captain Prince is amused by his answer.

At Manila, the captain of another American ship comes aboard and is astonished to learn that they made their way from Sunda Strait to Manila in only fifteen days. They spend a few weeks at Manila, then start for home. The ship springs a leak. For weeks, the crew works the pumps night and day to keep the ship afloat. Finally, they reach Block island off the coast of Rhode Island. They still have hundreds of miles to travel first east past Nantucket Island, then north around Cape Cod. They pass one landmark after another—Baker’s Island, Coney Island, Bowditch’s Ledge, finally around Marblehead then South by Southwest into Salem Harbor and home.

Nat finds Elizabeth Boardman awaiting him on the dock, but with her is David Farrell, a young man closer to Elizabeth’s age than Nat. Nat is disappointed and feels foolish for thinking that Elizabeth cared for him.